Android Security Bulletin—February 2018

Published February 5, 2018 | Updated April 2, 2018

The Android Security Bulletin contains details of security vulnerabilities
affecting Android devices. Security patch levels of 2018-02-05 or later address
all of these issues. To learn how to check a device's security patch level, see
Check and update
your Android version.

Android partners are notified of all issues at least a month before publication.
Source code patches for these issues have been released to the Android Open
Source Project (AOSP) repository and linked from this bulletin. This bulletin
also includes links to patches outside of AOSP.

The most severe of these issues is a critical security vulnerability in Media
framework that could enable a remote attacker using a specially crafted file to
execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. The severity
assessment is based on the effect that exploiting the vulnerability would
possibly have on an affected device, assuming the platform and service
mitigations are turned off for development purposes or if successfully bypassed.

Android and Google service mitigations

This is a summary of the mitigations provided by the Android
security platform and service protections such as Google Play Protect. These
capabilities reduce the likelihood that security vulnerabilities could be
successfully exploited on Android.

Exploitation for many issues on Android is made more difficult by
enhancements in newer versions of the Android platform. We encourage all users
to update to the latest version of Android where possible.

2018-02-01 security patch level—Vulnerability details

In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security
vulnerabilities that apply to the 2018-02-01 patch level. Vulnerabilities are
grouped under the component that they affect. There is a description of the
issue and a table with the CVE, associated references, type
of vulnerability,
severity,
and updated AOSP versions (where applicable). When available, we link the public
change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, like the AOSP change list. When
multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to
numbers following the bug ID.

Media framework

The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a remote attacker
using a specially crafted file to execute arbitrary code within the context of
a privileged process.

2018-02-05 security patch level—Vulnerability details

In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security
vulnerabilities that apply to the 2018-02-05 patch level. Vulnerabilities are
grouped under the component that they affect and include details such as the
CVE, associated references, type of vulnerability,
severity,
component (where applicable), and updated AOSP versions (where applicable). When
available, we link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID,
like the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug,
additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID.

HTC components

The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a local malicious
application to obtain unauthorized access to data.

Qualcomm closed-source
components

These vulnerabilities affect Qualcomm components and are described in
further detail in the appropriate Qualcomm AMSS security bulletin or security
alert. The severity assessment of these issues is provided directly by
Qualcomm.

Security patch levels of 2018-02-01 or later address all issues associated
with the 2018-02-01 security patch level.

Security patch levels of 2018-02-05 or later address all issues associated
with the 2018-02-05 security patch level and all previous patch levels.

Device manufacturers that include these updates should set the patch string
level to:

[ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2018-02-01]

[ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2018-02-05]

2. Why does this bulletin have two security patch levels?

This bulletin has two security patch levels so that Android partners have the
flexibility to fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all
Android devices more quickly. Android partners are encouraged to fix all issues
in this bulletin and use the latest security patch level.

Devices that use the 2018-02-01 security patch level must include all issues
associated with that security patch level, as well as fixes for all issues
reported in previous security bulletins.

Devices that use the security patch level of 2018-02-05 or newer must
include all applicable patches in this (and previous) security
bulletins.

Partners are encouraged to bundle the fixes for all issues they are addressing
in a single update.

3. What do the entries in the Type column mean?

Entries in the Type column of the vulnerability details table reference
the classification of the security vulnerability.

Abbreviation

Definition

RCE

Remote code execution

EoP

Elevation of privilege

ID

Information disclosure

DoS

Denial of service

N/A

Classification not available

4. What do the entries in the References column mean?

Entries under the References column of the vulnerability details table
may contain a prefix identifying the organization to which the reference value
belongs.

Prefix

Reference

A-

Android bug ID

QC-

Qualcomm reference number

M-

MediaTek reference number

N-

NVIDIA reference number

B-

Broadcom reference number

5. What does a * next to the Android bug ID in the References
column mean?

Issues that are not publicly available have a * next to the Android bug ID in
the References column. The update for that issue is generally contained
in the latest binary drivers for Nexus devices available from the Google Developer
site.

6. Why are security vulnerabilities split between this bulletin and
device/partner security bulletins, such as the Pixel / Nexus bulletin?

Security vulnerabilities that are documented in this security bulletin are
required in order to declare the latest security patch level on Android devices.
Additional security vulnerabilities that are documented in the device/partner
security bulletins are not required for declaring a security patch level.
Android device and chipset manufacturers are encouraged to document the presence
of other fixes on their devices through their own security websites, such as the
Samsung, LGE, or Pixel&hairsp;/&hairsp;Nexus
security bulletins.